The Minnesota Historical Society recently awarded CCHS an $8,300 Minnesota Historical & Cultural Heritage Grant for the Digitization of Recorded Oral Histories and Interviews. CCHS is using designated funds previously received for our Oral History program as a match for the grant.

Our organization's archival collections contain several decades of recorded oral histories and interviews that colorfully illustrate cultural heritage along the North Shore of Minnesota. However, these stories are currently located on at-risk VHS cassettes as well as in raw untranscribed digital audio recordings. Our main goal of this project is to preserve these stories by creating preservation copies which we can then use as a source for subsequent copies for general access, research, and content sharing. Throughout the digitization process, we will also be recording descriptive metadata and adding searchable content to our database.

We have produced digital master copies of oral histories from 101 cassette tapes but have yet to transcribe the recordings and make access copies. Additionally, our collection of 352 VHS tapes that hold four decades of stories and interviews from the local Public Access Channel 13 (PAC-13) needs preserving. Stories and interviews from these resources provide primary source information spanning a period from approximately the late 1890s to 2014 and cover the NE region of Minnesota. These histories will provide more insights into the Native American community, the European immigrants, and the fur trade, commercial fishing, mining, logging, and tourism industries. Furthermore, the digital format will allow our listeners to experience the stories from the person who owns that story.

Improved access to these stories will provide for innumerable engaging and important public history uses - research, interpretive re-purposing, searchable databases, and remote access. Through preserving and sharing our existing collections, we hope to build interest in the community for gathering new stories and interviews.